Biden to Skip COP28 Climate Conference

According to a White House official, U.S. President Joe Biden will not be attending the United Nations COP28 Climate Conference, which begins this Thursday in Dubai.

The meeting of world leaders and delegates — including climate scientists, Indigenous Peoples and youth — to discuss the climate crisis has been held annually at various international locations since 1995.

Last month, Reuters reported that the president was not likely to attend the meeting due to presidential campaign commitments and demands related to the war in the Middle East.

“They’ve got the war in the Middle East and a war in Ukraine, a bunch of things going on,” said John Kerry, U.S. special envoy for climate change, last week, as The New York Times reported. Kerry will attend the conference in Dubai, along with his team.

Leaders from almost 200 countries, including Pope Francis, King Charles III, who will give the opening address, and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, are expected to be present at the conference.

Biden has attended the annual conference for the past two years, and referred to climate change as “the ultimate threat to humanity” earlier this month.

President of China Xi Jinping is also planning to skip the conference, reported Bloomberg.

The world leaders’ summit at COP28 will be held on Friday and Saturday, December 1 and 2.

According to the White House, the president’s schedule for this week includes a meeting with President of Angola João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, which is set to include a discussion on energy and climate, and the National Christmas Tree lighting on Thursday, Axios reported. President Biden is also set to attend a reception for honorees of the Kennedy Center on Sunday.

Biden’s decision not to attend the important climate conference is likely to upset climate activists.

According to analysts, it is not protocol for a president of the U.S. to be in attendance at every climate summit, reported The New York Times.

“I don’t quite see why you send a president to an event that doesn’t have a marquee outcome,” said David Victor, a Brookings Institution nonresident senior fellow, adding that President Biden’s absence sends “a message that there’s not much to be done by sending a leader,” as The New York Times reported.

The slow progress of nations on scaling back the use of fossil fuels and limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is expected to be discussed in Dubai.

The planet has already reached an average of 1.2 degrees Celsius of warming.

According to scientists, by 2030 emissions must be reduced by 43 percent lower than 2019 levels in order to avoid disastrous climate impacts. However, current U.S. climate goals will only result in a reduction of seven percent.

Unless the world keeps warming below this threshold, scientists say humans will struggle to adapt to global changes such as heat waves, drought, wildfires and extreme weather.